Abstract [en]

The purpose of this research is to investigate how a group of young people between 18-25 years perceive and learn of their situation as a refugee in Sweden. We used semi-structured interviews, the method is qualitative and inspired by "content analysis". Our respondents are living in two different places for asylum seekers in West Sweden and have moved from different countries in the Middle East.

Our questions were:

• What kind of emotions were experienced during the first encounter with Sweden and how do they experience everyday life?

• How is the encounter with the Swedish society and how is it acquired?

• What do they think about their future?

The results showed that the participants experienced different emotions in their first meeting with Sweden. They were in a difficult situation, they felt lonely and had nothing to do. At the same time, they felt relieved to come and seek asylum in a safe country, and to have the "Immigration Service" as a security. The lack of knowledge of the Swedish language was a big deal, sometimes feeling like a stranger made it tough. Many respondents felt that it was a relief to leave their country because of the hard situation. Several times a week they study the Swedish language in different ways, did volunteer work or internship while someone had an extra job. It was important for them to keep themselves busy by having different kinds of activities or other stuff to do. The majority of the participants felt that it was difficult to meet Swedish people and they saw that as a problem for the integration. The language was considered the most important thing to learn and almost all participants wanted to continue their studies. They saw a future for themselves in Sweden, to get a job for income and later on, build a family.